Born in heart of beer country, in Bavaria, home to ESO’s Headquarters, Herbert joined ESO almost 33 years ago in 1981. A photographer by training, his first assignment was to a photographic survey project to map the southern sky. Following the introduction of video technology at ESO, Herbert transitioned from photography to videography and ever since has enjoyed documenting novel ESO activities and breathtaking scientific findings from innovative technologies at ESO. Herbert considers it a privilege to travel to ESO’s sites in Chile in order to report on dedicated scientists and engineers at work and to film beneath the star-filled skies. All of this material is available within ESO’s dedicated video archives for immediate viewing and high-res downloading.

Yuri Beletsky (Astronomer, Carnegie Las Campanas observatory)
Born in Belarus, Yuri now lives in Chile, where he works at Las Campanas Observatory. Previously he was an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory’s sites. During his spare time, Yuri likes to set up a small equatorial mount and take wide-field panoramic images of the Milky Way and other natural phenomena. Yuri has been an enthusiastic amateur stargazer since childhood. With the rapid development of digital imaging technology, he discovered a passion for astrophotography. Images obtained by Yuri have been featured on popular websites, and in press releases, books and magazines. He continually shares his passions for astronomy and astrophotography with people around the world.Yuri's website | Google+ | Twitter

ESO Photo Ambassador, Christoph Malin Born in 1969 in southern Germany and today based near Innsbruck, Austria, Christoph was originally a textile engineer and has worked in the fields of garment CAD/CAM system development, including laser and hydro-cutting systems. In 2010 he took up astrophotography and mountain time-lapse photography to record the clear skies and spectacular views for everyone. As a fast learner Christoph has now combined his outdoor time-lapse photography and post-processing skills with his mountaineering knowledge to create some of the finest astrophotography time-lapses from dark places throughout the Alps and other remarkable mountain and desert landscapes.Christoph's website | Google+ | Twitter | Facebook | Vimeo | TWAN Gallery

ESO Photo Ambassador, Babak Tafreshi Born in 1978 in Iran, Babak is based in Germany, but is always on the move, and could be anywhere, from the heart of Sahara to the Himalayas or Antarctica. Babak is a science journalist, photographer and astronomy communicator working with all kinds of audiovisual media. He is the founder and director of famous The World At Night (TWAN) programme, an international project to produce and present stunning night-sky images above various Earth landscapes. Babak was editor of the Iranian astronomy magazine, Nojum, from 1997 to 2007. He has contributed to many television and radio programmes on astronomy and has interviewed world-renowned astronomers and space scientists. Besides TWAN imaging, chasing solar eclipses for an astronomy documentary series has taken him to all continents.Babak's website | Facebook | TWAN Gallery